Angenehm!

Last week I learned the word Angehemn which literally translates to "pleasant" but is usually said after you are introduced to someone new and it means "It's nice to meet you." I have not really said it to anyone yet but I did have the opportunity to do so twice this weekend.

So Stuttgarter Hofbrau is the main brewery in Stuttgart. Personally I like Schonbuch's (the local brewery here in Boeblingen) beer better, specifically their hefeweizen. At the Real Getranktmart or drink store I got a free bottle of their promotional Fruhlingsfest beer. The beer rep who spoke perfect English told me that it tastes like summer. I have to agree! It is definitely a more refreshing and crisp beer. I was happy to drink it in preparation for Stuttgarter Fruhlingsfest which is the largest Sping Festival in Germany and the closest festival  in size, attendance, and length to Oktoberfest in Munich. The keg is first tapped to begin the festivities on April 20th but we will be in Amsterdam. I plan on attending a few times since the festival lasts three full weeks. Hopefully it will be socially appropriate for me to wear my drindl/trocken!

I have also been keeping up with my German cooking and have slaved away in the kitchen to make the following dishes:

- Beef Goulash with a tomato based sauce and Savoy Cabbage in a creme fraiche cream sauce. I served the goulash with rice and the cabbage was actually quite delicious. Germans definitely eat a lot of cabbage.

- Cabbage Roulade wrapped in Savoy Cabbage with Potatoes "en papillotte" and Red Cabbage. The Roulade was definitely a challenge to make but it turned out quite well. The cabbage is essentially stuffed with a delicious meatball and cooked in a pan. If I was to make it again I would brown the cabbage a bit more, roll it tighter, and serve it with a richer brown gravy. The potatoes were supposed to be baked potatoes in foil but since I bought the wrong kind of potato I just did sliced foil packets in the oven. The sauce is a creme fraiche mixture that reminded me of sour cream (which you cannot find here).

- Chicken Breasts with Tomato, Mozzarella, and Basil (I forget what else I served with the chicken so it must not have been that exciting.)

- Herb Soup, Beef Pot Roast, Red and Orange Peppers, and Oven Roasted Potatoes. This meal was messy. I borrowed a submersion blender from our landlords for the soup and sauce for the pot roast. I officially splattered food everywhere. Here is a picture of the kitchen when the cooking and eating was finished. Sadly I do enjoy cleaning large messes. 

I have this week off except for Tuesday so I might be having fun in the kitchen. Our landlord has also lent me an American Baking Book (in German) so I might try a few recipes from there to see what the German impression of American Baking is like.

And now onto our activities from this past weekend...

On Saturday, Ryan and I went to a bike flea market at a bike store in Gerlingen with two other trainees who were bike shopping. They were able to find the bikes they were looking for for around 50 Euros a piece and they can sell them back at the flea market before they leave Germany. Then we went to the mall there to walk around. The guys had fun in the electronic store and then enjoyed coffee and cheesecake at Starbucks while I shopped in the mall. I found a purse to replace the one I brought here that broke and a shirt on the clearance rack. Woohoo!

We had lunch at a cafe in town that served Cola and Banana Weizen. That would be hefeweizen beer with Coca-Cola or Banana nectar. I did not care for the Cola at all but the Banana wasn't half bad.

In the evening I watched Ladell for a few hours while his parents had a date-night and then took the train home. On my way home I stopped downtown for S-City or a Stuttgart shopping event on Konigstrasse. All of the stores were open until midnight and there was quite a festival on the street. I saw a few stages with bands playing live music, numerous food tents and trailers, bars and beer tents, street performers and tons of people out and about at 10:00 pm shopping. It was too crazy and busy for me to shop there and the stores were absolutely destroyed. It was similar to Black Friday except that there were not additional sales. The prices seemed to be the same as any regular day.

Sunday was a relaxing day of Skyping, phone calls, cooking, cleaning and a walk outside. The sun came out for a little while.

I encountered two very friendly Germans this weekend...One of the saleswomen at the electronic store at the mall was excited to speak with us when she realized we were Americans and not really interested in purchasing washing machines. She shared her travels around the US with us and told us that she missed Denny's Restaurant. She said it was the best place for breakfast!

And when Ryan and I were walking on Sunday we were approached by a German who heard us speaking English. He said that he lives near the US Military Barracks here in town and wanted to know how long Americans come here to work there (1 year, 10 years, or more). Unfortunately we could not specifically answer his question but we enjoyed the conversation as we finished our walk around the park with him. This is very unlike the traditional German culture to begin conversations with strangers but I sure enjoy it and it makes my days not seem as quiet.